About 100 Sign Up For Food Exhange

March 09, 1989|By GEORGE PAASWELL Staff Writer

SUFFOLK — Roughly 100 Suffolk residents have signed up with Share Hampton Roads in a new program to trade two hours of community service and $12 for frozen meat, fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

Share Hampton Roads is the local branch of a national monthly food exchange, said local executive director Dr. Donald Hammond. The exchange is preparing for its first distribution in Tidewater, March 18 at four Suffolk locations.

Area residents were told of the program through their churches and civic organizations, Hammond said. Participants must provide two hours of community service before getting their food, he added.

"It must be something that benefits the community, and something for which there is no compensation," Hammond said of the community service work.

The deadline for participants in the first phase of the program has passed.

The food, none of which is government surplus, is purchased through the national organization from money raised through participants and other sources, including Family Services, in Norfolk.

Along with the community service work, participants must pay $12. In exchange, they get about $35 worth of food. "They'll get four frozen meat items, one or two frozen vegetables and fresh fruits and vegetables," Hammond said. Also included will be cheese and milk.

Nearly 230,000 U.S. families, including 5,000 in Tidewater, participate in the program, enabling Share to buy food in bulk, Hammond said.

The community service aspect of the program will be overseen by local churches and civic organizations.